Glada
A Scandinavian feminine name meaning "joyful, cheerful, glad".
Name Census estimates that about 40 living Americans carry the first name Glada. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Glada today is around 88 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Glada births was 1920 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Glada. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Glada is about 88 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Gladas were born before 1948.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Glada. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
40
~ 1 in 8,568,858 Americans
Peak year
1920
27 babies that year
Average age
88
years old
1949 SSA rank
#3,473
Tracked since 1893
Census
Glada in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 150 people with the first name Glada, which placed it at #45,340 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#45,340
National first-name rank
People counted
150
150 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Glada
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Glada is White at 89.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.7%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Glada described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Glada at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.3% · 134
- Hispanic or Latino4.7% · 7
- Two or more races3.3% · 5
- Black or African American2.7% · 4
Popularity
Glada: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Glada from the 1890s through to the 1940s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 159 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Glada by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Glada during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gladas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Glada, while Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 19 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Glada
The name Glada is a feminine given name of Scandinavian origin, derived from the Old Norse word "glaðr," which means "glad" or "joyful." This name likely emerged during the Viking Age, which spanned from the late 8th century to the late 11th century, when Old Norse was widely spoken across Scandinavia and parts of northern Europe.
Glada was a popular name among the Norse people, who valued joy, happiness, and celebration. In the Poetic Edda, a collection of Old Norse poems dating back to the 13th century, there are references to the concept of "glaðr" as a desirable state of being. This suggests that the name Glada may have been associated with a positive and uplifting spirit.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Glada was Glada Sveinsdóttir, a Norwegian woman who lived in the late 12th century. Glada Sveinsdóttir was a landowner and prominent figure in the region of Trøndelag, which is now part of central Norway.
During the Middle Ages, the name Glada appeared in various historical records and documents across Scandinavia. For example, a woman named Glada Pálsdóttir was mentioned in the Icelandic Annals from the year 1343. These annals were chronicles of events in Iceland, providing insight into the use of the name during that time period.
In the 16th century, a Swedish noblewoman named Glada Svensdotter was recorded as having lived from approximately 1520 to 1585. She was a member of the influential Natt och Dag family and played a role in the Swedish Reformation, as she supported the adoption of Protestantism in Sweden.
Another notable figure with the name Glada was Glada Kristine Eriksdotter, a Norwegian woman who lived from 1634 to 1706. She was a landowner and farmer in the region of Østerdalen, and her name is documented in historical records from that area.
While the name Glada has its roots in Old Norse and Scandinavian cultures, it has also been used in other parts of Europe over the centuries. For instance, there are records of a woman named Glada Margareta Schröder, who lived in Germany from 1744 to 1815, during the Enlightenment period.
People
Glada + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Glada as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Glada: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Glada?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 40 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Glada going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 8,568,858 US residents.
Is Glada a common name?
We classify Glada as "Very Rare". It ranks above 51% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 486 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Glada most popular?
The single biggest year for Glada was 1920, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Glada is about 88 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Glada in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 150 people with the name Glada, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #45,340 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Glada in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Glada?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Glada appears almost entirely female. Of the 148 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Glada?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Glada is White at 89.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.7%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Glada most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Glada in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.3% (134 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Glada in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Glada a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Glada in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Glada still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Glada in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Glada can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Glada?
You can see how many Americans are named Glada on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.